State awards $6 million to Kenneth Ireland, who spent 21 years in prison for rape, murder he didn't commit

HARTFORD — Kenneth Ireland's subdued reaction Thursday to word that he would soon be a multimillionaire seemed to say a lot about the long road it took to get there.

Even after 21 grueling years locked up in prison for a rape and murder that he did not commit, Ireland's early life as a free man was rough. He had no money, slept on his sister's couch and awkwardly navigated a world that had changed dramatically since he was a teen in the 1980s. But he was determined to get on the right track and build a new life.

Asked Thursday about the state claims commissioner's decision to award him $6 million, making him the first person to be compensated for a wrongful incarceration claim in Connecticut since a law was passed nearly seven years ago, a gracious and mellow Ireland didn't see himself as anything special.

"There are a lot of guys that have been exonerated, and I'm just one of them," Ireland said.

Ireland, 44, was freed from prison in 2009 after DNA tests — pushed by lawyers with the Connecticut Innocence Project — cleared him andpointed to another man, Kevin Benefield, as the killer. Benefield was convicted in 2012 and sentenced to 60 years in prison.

You can't replace those years but I've gotten beyond that and I'm looking forward to the future.— Kenneth Ireland

Ireland said that the financial award is another step for him as he moves on with his life.

"I am extremely pleased and thankful for the hard work and the thoughtfulness of the state and the claims commissioner," Ireland said. "You can't replace those years, but I've gotten beyond that, and I'm looking forward to the future. I'm not a live-in-the-past kind of guy."

Ireland said that he intended to keep his job as a full-time member of the board of pardons and paroles and planned to travel.

"This ensures my security and affords me a little bit of room to explore the world and become familiar with and see things I've missed," Ireland said.

He said it was premature to say what else he planned to do with the money, admitting that news of it had not yet truly registered.

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around it," he said.

A Likely Benchmark For Other Claims

The decision Thursday by Claims Commissioner J. Paul Vance Jr. is expected to provide a benchmark for the more than dozen pending wrongful incarceration claims now before the claims commissioner, including one by Miguel Roman, who was wrongfully imprisoned for 20 years for a murder in Hartford before DNA tests helped exonerate him.

"While this decision attempts to compensate Mr. Ireland for the time that he was wrongfully prisoned, no words or dollar amount will suffice to give him back the time that he lost and the misery he endured," Vance said in his five-page decision, released Thursday afternoon.

Vance also said: "I offer my sincerest apologies to Mr. Ireland for the burden that he was forced to suffer, and I wish him the best of luck."

Later Thursday, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy called Ireland a man "of extraordinary character who endured the unimaginable pain of two decades of wrongful incarceration, and yet is not only without bitterness, but is incredibly thoughtful, insightful and committed to public safety and service. Nothing could ever replace the two decades of life as a free man that were wrongfully taken away from him, separated from his family and friends."

In a 100-page "analysis of damages" submitted to the claims commissioner last year, Ireland sought between $5.5 million and $8 million from the state.

In his decision, Vance put dollar figures on what Ireland had lost — $2.5 million for loss of liberty and enjoyment of life, $1.5 million for loss of earnings and earning capacity, and $300,000 for loss of reputation. Vance estimated physical and mental injuries at $1.5 million and costs and expenses at $200,000.

The money will come from the adjudicated claims account, which is budgeted under the state comptroller's office, said Michael P. Lawlor, the governor's undersecretary of criminal justice policy and planning in the Office of Policy and Management.

"Twenty-one years in a prison cell for an innocent person is an indescribably long time," said Ireland's pro bono attorney, William M. Bloss. "While I doubt many people would trade this for Ken Ireland's experience, we are thankful that [state officials] recognized the fairness of this remedy and appreciate all of the care and thought that went into the decision."

'In The Middle Of The Chaos'

Ireland went to prison at age 18, convicted of the 1986 rape and slaying of Barbara Pelkey, a Wallingford mother of four. Ireland's damage analysis said he was "placed smack in the middle of the chaos" at the state's maximum security prison at the time, the Connecticut Correctional Institution in Somers. There, he witnessed frequent "killings and stabbings by rival gang members," including one attack, Bloss said, in which gang members doused an inmate with a chemical and set him on fire.

Ireland, about 20 at the time, was held in a cell near the burning inmate and could hear the screams and watched as medical personnel took the inmate away. Ireland was hospitalized himself when an inmate dropped a 450-pound barbell on his hand, crushing it. He ended up losing part of his finger.

At one point, Connecticut officials sent Ireland to Wallens Ridge State Prison, a super-maximum-security facility in Virginia, "which housed the 'worst of the worst' inmates where stun guns were routinely used on inmates," the analysis said.

The state sent inmates to Wallens Ridge in Big Stone Gap, Va., in 1999 to ease prison crowding. The controversial policy, adopted by then-Gov. John G. Rowland, ended after two inmates died under questionable circumstances and numerous others said they were victims of brutal treatment and racism.

Ireland, who now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, sat alone in his cell the day of his father's funeral.

Last April, Attorney General George Jepsen told Vance that the state did not object to the financial amounts Ireland cited in his claim, saying that Ireland was wrongfully incarcerated and entitled to compensation under state law.

The state said the financial amount that Ireland was seeking was in line with the amount awarded by the legislature to James Tillman in 2007.

Connecticut legislators passed the wrongful incarceration compensation law the following year, in 2008. Tillman had been released from prison in 2006 after serving 18 years for a rape that he did not commit.

In May 2007, then-Gov. M. Jodi Rell publicly apologized to Tillman and signed legislation awarding him $5 million in compensation. The settlement also was paid from the adjudicated claims account. .

In return for the money, Tillman agreed to drop any legal claims that he had against the state. The 2008 law, however, allows the wrongfully convicted in Connecticut to files claims in federal and state court. Roman has filed a lawsuit against the city of Hartford and its police department for wrongful arrest and conviction. The case is pending in Superior Court.

In October, Malloy appointed Ireland to the state Board of Pardons and Paroles for a full-time job with an annual salary of $92,500. Last week, the judiciary committee voted 39-0 in favor of sending Ireland's nomination to the full legislature for approval. Votes in both the House and Senate are scheduled for Friday.

Supporters of his nomination said that Ireland could not have better credentials or perspective for the post.

"He's an important person in this state now," said Timothy S. Fisher, dean of the UConn School of Law, who was part of a team of people who helped Ireland re-enter society when he was released from prison.

Fisher said that when Ireland was first released, he wanted to get away from Connecticut and start a new life somewhere else.

"He had to start from zero," Fisher said. "He had trouble making ends meet for a couple of years."

But as Ireland began that new life, Fisher said, he built up his internal strength, confidence and sophistication. Those attributes — matched up with his ability to be a survivor — helped him succeed at various jobs, a serious relationship and ultimately a career in which he can put those lost years to use for others looking to re-enter a free society.